In general, as a means for dispensing a suitable amount of contents, such as cosmetics, shampoo, or detergent, contained in a container, a dispensing pump is mounted on a container for use.
The dispensing pumps according to the related art, which are mounted on a container and used to dispense a small amount of contents as described above, have been variously proposed. As shown in FIG. 1, an opening and closing ball 122 and an operating piston 123 for opening or closing a contents inlet 125 are elastically supported by a spring 121, and a cylinder 120 for allowing the contents in a contents storing chamber 126 to be dispensed through a push button 140 by generating pressure in the contents storing chamber 126 using the operating piston 123 are installed in a pump main body 110.
An air-tight piston 124 is further installed to the operating piston 123 and the push button 140 is installed in an operating tube 130 coupled to the operating piston 123 of the cylinder 120.
According to the above-described contents dispensing pump of the related art, when the push button 140 is pushed, an air gap is generated between the air-tight piston 124 and the operating piston 123. In this case, a pressure is generated in the contents storing chamber 126 while the air-tight piston 124 and the operating piston 123 together move down, so that the contents are dispensed through a contents transferring passage 123a of the operating piston 123 due to the pressure.
In this case, the opening and closing ball 122 is tightly closed to a contents introducing passage 125 by the compressed spring 121 so that the contents introducing passage 125 is closed.
After the push button 140 is pushed to dispense contents as described above, when the pushed button 140 is released from the external force applied thereto, as shown in FIG. 2, the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124 may move up together due to the repulsive elastic force accumulated in the spring 121.
At the initial lifting stage of the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124 ascending as described above, while the air-tight piston 124 is stopped ascending due to the friction with an inside of the cylinder 120, the operating piston 123 first moves up to close the air gap between the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124, so that the contents transferring passage 123a is closed.
In the state that the contents transferring passage 123a is shut off, when the operating piston 123 and the air-tight piston 124 are continuously lifted up, a vacuum pressure is generated in the contents storing chamber 125 and the opening and closing ball 122 is spaced apart from the contents introducing hole 125 due to the vacuum pressure generated in the contents storing chamber 126, so that the contents in the container are introduced into the contents storing chamber 126.
The contents dispensing pump according to the related art dispenses the contents while repeatedly performing the above-described operation.
However, the contents dispensing pump has a major drawback that, since a metallic ball and metallic spring are used as the opening and closing means for dispensing contents, the metallic ball and metallic spring are corroded due to chemical reaction with the contents so that the contents are polluted. In addition, since synthetic resin and metal are used as materials of the contents dispensing pump, when the used contents dispensing pump is discarded, it is difficult to separate the synthetic resin and metallic materials from each other, so that it is difficult to perform resource recycling.
Further, the structure of the contents dispensing pump according to the related art is complex, so that the productivity is deteriorated and the product price is increased. Specifically, since the dispensing pump structurally has a long working stroke distance, when the dispensing pump is applied to a product such as a compact having a height smaller than a width, it is difficult to mount the dispensing pump on the product due to a small mounting space.
To solve the problem, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, applicant of the present invention has suggested a contents dispensing pump disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0069816, wherein a pumping operation is performed by changing the volume of a temporary contents reservoir TR due to a deformation of a deformed pressing member 260. Thus, a working stroke distance of the contents dispensing pump can be short so that the contents dispensing pump can be readily installed in a product where a mounting space for the contents dispensing pump is small.
In the contents dispensing pump coupled to a container 210 for containing the contents therein to dispense the contents, a deformed pressing member 260 descends by being pressed and deformed when a push button 250 descends such that the volume of a temporary reservoir TR in a pump main body 220 including a pump upper body 222 and a pump lower body 224 is reduced and pressure is generated in the temporary reservoir TR. Thus, a valve plate 240 closes a contents inlet 226, and a valve protrusion wheel 262 coming into close contact with a contents opening and closing piece 252 is widened by the pressure such that the contents contained in the temporary reservoir (TR) are dispensed through an outlet 254 while passing through a gap between the contents opening and closing piece 252 and the valve protrusion wheel 262.
Then, when the pressure that presses the push button 250 is removed, while the push button 250 lifts up by a restoring force of an elastic member 270, the deformed pressing member 260 pressed by the push button 250 is restored to the original state. Thus, the pressure generated within the temporary reservoir TR disappears and vacuum pressure is generated, so that the gap between the contents opening and closing piece 252 and the valve protrusion wheel 262 of the deformed pressing member 260 is closed and the central part of the valve plate 240 is lifted by the vacuum pressure to widen boundary lines of opening and closing lines 241. Thus, the contents contained in the container 210 move to the temporary reservoir TR through a gap between the valve plate 240 and the contents outlet 242, and in this case, the contents that have passed through the contents outlet 242 move to the temporary reservoir TR through gaps of the widened opening and closing lines 241 of the valve plate 240. When the contents are transferred so that the vacuum pressure of the temporary reservoir TR disappears, the opening and closing line 241 opened due to the autonomous elastic force is restored to the original state to be closed so that the valve plate 240 closes the contents inlet 226.
However, although the dispensing pump of the related art has an advantage that the pumping is performed by changing the volume of the temporary reservoir TR through the deformation of the deformed pressing member 260, so the working stroke distance of the dispensing pump can be shortened, so that the dispensing pump can be installed in a product where the mounting space for the dispensing pump is small, the dispensing pump of the related art has the structure including various components, such as the push button 250, the pump upper body 222, the pump lower body 224, the deformed pressing member 260 and the valve plate 240, so the assembling productivity may be lowered and the product cost may be increased, degrading the market competitiveness.